Lumină și umbră în proza balcanică: Portrete, mituri și destrămarea unei lumi la Sadoveanu și Stanković
Light and Shadow in Balkan Prose: Portraits, Myths and the Disintegration of a World in Works of Sadoveanu and Stanković

Summary/Abstract: This paper aims to analyze how Balkan literature reflects the disintegration of a traditional world through a subtle interplay of light and shadow, both stylistically and symbolically, in the prose of Mihail Sadoveanu and Bora Stanković. The comparative study is based on the short stories “Iapa lui Vodă” and “Stari dani”, highlighting how mythical, symbolic, and ritualistic elements are integrated into the narrative structure, contributing to the shaping of Balkan cultural identity and to the representation of the decline of an archaic world in the context of emerging modernity. The analysis follows a series of recurring motifs, thematically organized, in order to emphasize the shared cultural specificity of the Balkan region. The represented spaces and settings (the inn, the neighborhood, the interior of the house), the narrative tone, the presence of feasts, drinking, and celebratory moments, as well as the construction of characters, contribute to the configuration of a tense and nostalgic atmosphere, situated between the old world and a transforming reality. The collective historical memory of the region, reflected through seemingly everyday details, is doubled by a pronounced mythical and symbolic dimension – from the image of the horse, as a sign of strength, to the interplay of light and shadow as narrative and psychological devices. Thus, the prose of both authors offers a complex and nuanced portrayal of Balkan identity, illustrating, through recurring symbols, the psychology of the characters and the crisis of values in a moment of profound historical rupture.

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